“I have no idea. The curtain would have been around the bed and I would have been silent, coz I still would've been drugged. They wouldn’t have seen or heard anything. Seems like the perfect crime to me.”
“The perfect crime. Interesting phrase. Can you please tell the court what police station your parents took you to the day you made your claim?”
At this point the defence was interrupted by the judge. "Disallowed and watch your tone, Counsel."
“Apologies, Your Honour. I’ll rephrase. What did your parents do when you told them what had happened?”
“They... well, my mother was excited.”
“Excited? Surely not.”
“She was overjoyed. She thought the stimulations were working.”
“So you maintained you were being assaulted but your mother... cast that aside? She didn’t believe you?”
“She brushed all of it aside just because she found a hope that her broken daughter could be fixed.”
“Your mother wasn’t surprised or shocked by what you told her?”
“No. She knew what he was doing.”
“So, you mean to tell this court that the same man, this doctor with decades in the medical field, that you have accused of assaulting you, not only gave you the option of having your parents in the same room during these sessions but also told your mother exactly what he would do during them?”
Ava swallowed. “Yes.”
“I see. How did that make you feel, finding out your parents knew all along?”
“Hurt. Heartbroken. Ashamed.”
"It didn't make you angry?"
"The whole thing made me angry."
"Angry enough to want revenge and to make you jump at the chance to get it years later when it might most benefit you?"
"Objection. Counsel is being unnecessarily insulting."
"Sustained. I already warned you about your tone, Counsel.”
"Sorry, Your Honour. I'll rephrase. Ms Beckinsale, why did you wait so long to bring charges?"
“Because it isn’t the thing you automatically go to. I don’t think of myself as evil and I don’t think of other people as evil. I questioned if what I thought had happened, really happened."
“So you question yourself about whether the doctor really assaulted you?”
“I did. I don’t anymore.”
“Do you often jump back and forth when deciding what to believe about such important matters? Should we wait and ask you again next week in case you’ve changed your mind again?”
“Disallowed, Counsel! That’s your final warning.”
"My apologies, Your Honor. No further questions."
The prosecution resumed his position. "Ms Beckinsale, did Dr. Van Gould know you were incredibly upset with your parents when he asked you if you wanted them to stay in the room?"
"Yes."
"You said you questioned what had happened?”